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Somewhere along the line, the news story about the discovery of the new iPhone model became more about "how this happened" and "how authorities will handle the situation" rather than what the device itself suggests about where Apple is taking their juggernaut smartphone later this year and into the future.

Like putting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together, the iPhone 4G prototype tells us something very important about Apple's highest and most immediate priorities in the smartphone marketplace. If the captured prototype proves comparable to the device that is eventually rolled out, it's safe to say that one of Apple's newest, highest, and most unexpected priorities is to finally market the iPhone as the ultimate mobile gaming device - something, for example, that can rival the likes of Nintendo's forthcoming 3DS mobile gaming platform.

Beautifully articulated by my MMI colleague Paul in his post this weekend, Apple is actively planning for a "whole new kind of social networking," one that enables users to share video of themselves. But while most of the attention surrounding the front facing camera centers on social networking, Apple's real priority with the front facing camera could ultimately be to embellish the video gaming experience.

The 4th generation iPhone is not simply another upgraded smartphone from Apple. Instead, this is a "new" phone in every sense of the imagination - a phone that will be a gaming "game changer" unlike anything three previous generations of the iPhone have provided. Apple, after all, could face some of its most substantial competition in the coming years from mobile video game devices, not rival smartphones. As a result, the marketing strategy behind the new iPhone will likely no longer reflect Apple's once high and mighty better-than-just-a-gaming-device attitude. Apple is now clearly in the game to squash both smartphone and mobile gaming competitors. And if the new iPhone prototype holds true, Apple just might succeed in doing so.